Led by a speedy winning relay, the Bishop O’Connell Knights enjoyed a top finish in the biggest swimming-and-diving meet in the metro area for private high-school teams.
The Knights placed second with 501 points in the girls meet of the Washington Metropolitan Prep School Swim & Dive League (WMPSSDL) championships at the University of Maryland.
Holton-Arms School of Bethesda won with 566.
The runner-up finish was O’Connell’s first since the 2022 season. The Knights placed fifth last winter and third in 2023.
O’Connell’s winning relay in the meet was the 200 medley in 1:48.48. The foursome consisted entirely of underclassmen: junior Anna Sullivan, sophomores Stella Mastroianni and Eleanor Wertzler and freshman Elliott Rowan.
Those four also had top finishes in individual races.
Mastroianni was second in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 100 backstroke, Rowan was fifth in the 100 free and sixth in the 100 back, Wertzler was fifth in the 50 free and ninth in the 100 free, and Sullivan was 10th in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke.
Mastroianni, Wertzler and Rowan also swam on the second-place 400 free relay along, with Kalyn O’Hara, who was fourth in the 200 free and fifth in the 500 free.
Also for O’Connell swimmers, Caeli McIntosh was 15th in the 500 free, and the 200 free relay of Sullivan, O’Hara, Claire Thompson and Emerson Feeley was eighth.
In diving for the Knights, Isabel Smith was fourth, Lili Lepore seventh and Sara Bindseil ninth.
